I'm sure it will look prettier to cruise around underwater.

It's not going to change what happens underwater. We're still a long way off from true 3D combat (whether underwater or in sky/space) becoming popular with players. As good as 3D graphics are getting, the brain gets confused when trying to judge distance without that underlying surface between the person and the target giving a clear perspective.

Quote Originally Posted by Rekh View Post
Square enix and some simpleton players have a fear of underwater combat when in reality you don't need to actually swim to fight; Link has shown us this reality in the Zelda games. Sea floor would be where all the enemies are; anything above it would be like the "flying" section of the underwater zone.



I state it again; you don't need to create swimming battle animations; just ground player characters and enemies to the seafloor, that's it. Just create enough environment around the ground floor.
So what's supposed to make the underwater combat unique and interesting if we're still using what the brain interprets as a 2D surface for reference points?

All I can think of in my mind is that combat underwater is usually represented as slower in action and movement so it would end up like doing old school Toto-Rak with a 4 second GCD.

Does that sound like fun to you? It doesn't sound like fun to me.